Naval Air Transport Service

Naval Air Transport Service
Active	1941–1948
Country	United States
Branch	United States Navy
Role	Air transportation
Size	26,000 personnel
Engagements	World War II
Aircraft flown
Transport	Douglas C-47 Skytrain Douglas DC-3 Douglas C-54 Skymaster Consolidated PB2Y Coronado Martin PBM Mariner

The Naval Air Transport Service or NATS, was a branch of the United States Navy from 1941 to 1948. At its height during World War II, NATS's totaled four wings of 18 squadrons that operated 540 aircraft with 26,000 personnel assigned.

Formation, 1941–42

Prior to WW II, The Navy's air transport needs were provided by utility squadrons and aircraft assigned to commands. Five days after

with four R4D (C-47) aircraft, 27 officers, and 150 men. Initially, most of VR-1 flights were south in support of the Atlantic antisubmarine effort. "VR" is the Navy acronym for transport squadron – "V” is for heavier than air and "R” is for transport.

The next month, the Navy contracted

. The 30-day-long school included 30 hours of flight instruction and 30 hours of inflight observation. Student capacity was 30 per month. The Navy relied heavily on the expertise of former Naval aviators who were working for the commercial airlines and had been recalled to the Navy because of the war.

On 1 April 1942, VR-2 was commissioned at

, 25 miles to the southwest. The same month, the Pacific Wing Command was established in Honolulu.

Expansion, 1943

The next year was spent building up the NATS operation. In March 1943, NATS Wing West Coast and NATS Wing Atlantic were formed. NATS received its first R5D(C-54) in the spring of 1943. Seaplane operations were conducted with the transport versions of the Consolidated

NAS Atlanta

. R4D and R5D aircraft commander school was located at Olathe.

NATS also contracted Pan American to operate seaplane transport service from San Francisco to Hawaii. Pan America utilized

. At the end of September 1944, Pan Am was operating four Boeing 314s and 15 PB2Y plus a few miscellaneous types.

Meanwhile, in March 1943, VR-4 was commissioned at Oakland as a maintenance squadron. The next month VR-6 was established at Dinner Key, Miami and took over transport seaplane training from VR-1. The same month, VR-7, an R4D squadron was formed at NAS Miami to service the Caribbean and South America. VR-7 was based at Miami Municipal, aka Amelia Earhart Airport, which was a part of the three airfield NAS Miami complex. VR-10 was also commissioned at Honolulu and was primarily a maintenance squadron.

In June, VR-5 was commission at

. With the completion of facilities at NAS Honolulu, VR-11 moved its headquarters there in December.

In December 1943, the Naval Air Ferry Command was established under NATS to take over the mission previously provided by the Aircraft Delivery Units. The mission of the Ferry Command was to ferry aircraft from the factories to the fleet. The Command's headquarters were placed at NAS New York (

plus others. In December 1944, VFR-4 was established at New York to specialize in the ferrying of seaplanes.

Full strength, 1944–45

During 1944, NATS was operating at full steam. In June, two additional maintenance squadrons were formed, VR-12 at Honolulu and VR-9 at Patuxent River. VR-13, an additional R4D squadron, was established and was eventually moved to Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands.

In March 1945, VRE-1, a wounded evacuation squadron, was formed out of VR-11 and moved to Guam. VR-11 became the largest squadron in the Navy with 700 pilots, 89 R5Ds and 10 R4Ds. NATS relied heavily on personnel with airline experience. At one time, VR-11 had 47 officers and 10 enlisted men that previously worked for 15 different airlines. One of VR-11's special missions was the delivery of whole blood to Pacific battle areas. Using special refrigerating units, the squadron was delivering 1000 pints a day by the invasion of Iwo Jima.

Post-war, 1945–48

Following the war, the size of NATS diminished. The major operations at Miami and Olathe were eventually shutdown and the operations at San Francisco and Hawaii greatly reduced. The Naval Air Ferry Command was disbanded. By 1947, the NATS inventory had been reduced to only 116 aircraft. NATS meanwhile had planned for the future and introduced a new aircraft in 1947, the Lockheed

R-4360s. Only two Constitutions were built for the Navy since Pan Am had previously dropped out of the project. The R6V remains to this day as the largest aircraft operated by the Navy.

Defense department

In 1948, the newly created Defense Department, with economy and efficiency as its goal, combined the Air Force's Air Transport Command and NATS into the Military Air Transport Service or MATS. The Navy's contribution to MATS consisted of five squadrons and 58 aircraft. Although NATS was dissolved, the Navy was allowed to retain several transport squadrons for its specific needs. The Navy contribution to MATS and its subsequent command, Military Airlift Command or MAC, lasted until 1967. The demands of the Vietnam War and the resultant pilot shortage caused the Navy to withdraw its commitment.

References

• James Lee, Operation Lifeline – History and Development of the Naval Air Transport Service, 1947, Ziff-Davis Publishing Company
• Stanley M. Ulanoff, MATS: The Story of the Military Air Transport Service, 1964, The Moffa Press, Inc.
• Nicolas M. Williams, 'Aircraft of the United States' Military Air Transport Service', 1999, Midland Publishing Limited
• Melvin L. Shettle, Jr., 'United States Naval Air Stations of World WAR II – Volume One -Eastern States', 1995, Schaertel Publishing Co
• Melvin L. Shettle Jr., 'United States Naval Air Stations of World WAR II – Volume Two-Western States', 1997, Schaertel Publishing Co.

External links

• U.S. Navy – Naval History and Heritage Command
• NATS to MATS
• NATS at vpnavy.org